Thirteen human rights organizations have warned fraud in the referendum on the new draft constitution, especially after the National Council for Human Rights said in a press conference on Wednesday that organizations interested in monitoring the referendum must obtain prior authorization from it.

The organizations also denounced the council is playing the role of mentor for civil society organizations, and warned that the climate of the referendum does not inspire integrity.

They said in a statement that the will of the people was deceived in a constitution crafted by a Constituent Assembly that does not represent all sectors and political forces of society and through rushing a referendum without giving people time to discuss the draft.

The statement also said the National Council for Human Rights is manipulating the supervision of the referendum by civil society organizations, although it is neither neutral nor professional, and knows nothing about human rights, especially as a large number of its members resigned, saying that it was biased toward the official positions of the state and silent about abuses committed by the president’s party.

Eight members have resigned from the council in protest of recent political developments that followed the announcement of the controversial November Constitutional Declaration that exempted President Morsy’s decisions from judicial challenge, and in rejection of the president’s insistence to hold a referendum on the draft constitution despite objections from the opposition.

The statement added that the president of the council, Hossam al-Gheriany, is also the president of the Constituent Assembly, and that the majority of the council members are members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the constitution-writing body, and therefore are not neutral and should have been banned by the Supreme Judicial Elections Commission from monitoring the referendum.

It continued that the SJEC is the only body empowered by the law to authorize civil society organizations to monitor elections.

The statement was signed by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights and One World Foundation for Development, among others.

Hundreds of journalists staged a protest on Wednesday evening at the Journalists' Syndicate headquarters in Cairo to take part in the funeral of their fellow journalist al-Husseini Abou Deif of al-Fagr newspaper.

Abou Deif was shot in the head last week while covering news of clashes that occurred at the presidential palace for his newspaper. He died at al-Qasr al-Aini Hospital.

"Down with the rule of the Guide" and "Head of the Journalists' Syndicate, who is to be held accountable for al-Husseini's death?" were among the chants of journalists against the Muslim Brotherhood, the Middle East News Agency reported.

A number of political figures to participated in the protest including ex-MP Basel Adel, Emad Gad, Diaa Rashwan, journalist Mahmoud Bakri and writer Saad Hagras.

"We will retrieve the rights of our martyrs," Gamal Fahmi, first undersecretary of the Journalists' Syndicate, said.

The syndicate will organize a march next Friday to Tahrir Square under the title of "Revenge for al-Husseini and his brothers", Fahmi stated.

Al-Azhar on Wednesday urged Egyptians to participate in the referendum on the new constitution on 15 and 22 December, stressing that participation is a religious duty.

“We want Egypt to be a consensual, constitutional, democratic and modern state,” said Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb.

He called for maintaining the integrity and transparency of the referendum, and for avoiding all forms of violence. “Counterfeiting the will of the people is religiously prohibited,” he said. “And all political forces should accept the result of the referendum.”

Opposition forces reject the referendum on a draft constitution that they say was written by a Constituent Assembly dominated by Islamists. They demand the formation of a balanced assembly to draft a consensual constitution.

Mahalla — The “Independent Republic of Greater Mahalla” was declared by thousands of angry locals on 7 December, following bloody clashes in the city’s center on 27 November between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsy.

This newly “independent city” does not have its own national flag and it maintains the national anthem. While it opposes the Muslim Brotherhood and its sponsored draft constitution, the “Republic of Mahalla” does not have its own constitution either — at least not yet.

The so-called republic is not a secessionist movement from Egypt, but rather a gesture expressing opposition to Morsy’s regime and the Brotherhood from which he hails. The declaration took place amid mounting opposition in Egypt to Morsy’s rule following a series of decisions that were perceived as an attempt by Islamists to hegemonize power in the country.

While it was born in a town where dissidence is customary, the move also further crystallized how dominant local politics has become.

Observers Without Borders – a human rights group – said on Wednesday that President Mohamed Mursi’s decision to disallow Egyptians from voting outside their registered districts will curb participation in next week’s constitutional referendum.

The elections committee that is overseeing the referendum had described the amendment as an attempt to lower slanders against the transparency of the vote.

The move will deprive 10 million citizens from voting and thus lower the overall rate of participation, the state’s news agency reported Youssef Abdel Khaliq, director of the group, as saying.

Abdel Khaliq explained that many Egyptians who work and live outside their home residences will not vote due the difficulty of travels, etc. (Aswat Masiya)

With a bust of Egypt's former President Gamal Abdel Nasser in his office, opposition politician Hamdeen Sabahy has a knack for the kind of rousing rhetoric his nationalist hero employed to inspire the public.

The one-time student leader who founded the Popular Current, a movement that has started to gain influence across the country of 83 million, may be one of the biggest winners from a crisis that has engulfed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi after he expanded his powers and sparked nationwide protests.

Whether Sabahy or any other opposition figure can emerge as a credible leader of those who reject Mursi and his fellow Islamists may determine Egypt's future course.

"We will never differentiate in this nation between Muslim and Christian, men and women, those in the countryside or in the cities," Sabahy told a crowd this month in Tahrir Square where protesters accuse Mursi of driving a wedge between Egyptians of different faiths and opinions.

"In one hand" and "The people want to bring down the regime" they chanted back at the leftist politician on the podium.

Egypt's disparate opposition, trounced in two elections by well-organised Islamists since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown almost two years ago, have been united by the latest crisis and have proved that Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood and his allies do not have a monopoly on mobilising Egyptians.

That is heartening to Christians, moderate Muslims and more liberal-minded Egyptians angry at Mursi for pushing through a constitution drafted by an assembly dominated by his Islamist allies. It will go to a referendum on Saturday.

Sabahy, 58, sits alongside several other well-known personalities in the opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, that was thrown together by the political upheaval. Together they have brought tens of thousands onto the streets, even if not quite as regularly as the Islamists have done.

Like Sabahy, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, 70, and Amr Moussa, 76, a former foreign minister under Mubarak and then Arab League chief, have grown in standing.

But neither engenders the enthusiasm on the street that greets Sabahy, who has said he rose from the son of a peasant to his position now because of the policies of Nasser, who enthralled Egyptians and Arabs in the 1950s and 1960s.

In another demonstration in Tahrir Square, the cauldron of the anti-Mubarak uprising, ElBaradei addressed protesters this month. But instead of the fluid and gesticulating performance of Sabahy, the former head of the U.N. nuclear agency read his message from notes, drawing muted cheers." (Reuters)

Egypt's political crisis is threatening to plunge its ailing economy even deeper into distress after the government delayed a request for a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund that would have eased a ballooning budget deficit and reassured foreign investors.

Fear of stoking the street unrest over a disputed Islamist-oriented constitution led President Mohammed Morsi to suspend a package of tax hikes that were key to reducing that deficit - and his government may now have to renegotiate the loan deal that took more than a year to hammer out.

While the government said it wants to delay the request for only a month, the IMF the mentioned no timeframe in its statement on Tuesday, saying only that it stands ready to "consult with the authorities on the resumption of discussions."

That raises the possibility that the loan may be put off until the political situation stabilizes, and so far protests have shown no signs of abating. Tensions have risen ahead of Saturday's constitutional referendum, with Morsi's opponents calling for Egyptians to reject the charter.

As my colleague David Kirkpatrick reports from Cairo, “Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Morsi captured, detained and beat dozens of his political opponents last week, holding them for hours with their hands bound on the pavement outside the presidential palace while pressuring them to confess that they had accepted money to use violence in protests against him.”

Those protesters were detained and abused during street fighting last Wednesday, which began after supporters of the Islamist president from the Muslim Brotherhood attacked a sit-in by his opponents outside the palace, leading to deadly clashes. Almost as soon as the fighting ended, opposition activists began collecting visual evidence and testimony of the abuse anti-Morsi protesters suffered that night at the hands of the Brotherhood and their allies.

Egypt’s fight for democracy will have been in vain without putting in place a constitution that guarantees the rights of all of its people or one on which everyone can agree, says the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

“Democracy and strong democratic leadership is about listening to and representing the voice of all the people. A constitution needs to be built on that foundation if a country’s future is to be peaceful and assured,” says IPU President Abdelwahad Radi.

He deplored the violence and deaths of recent days and weeks and latest moves to use military force to maintain order. “The Egyptian people have shown time and time again that their democratic aspirations underpin their belief in the future. Many have even given their lives to this quest. It must not be for nothing.”

Citing IPU’s Universal Declaration on Democracy adopted by its membership in 1997, President Radi highlighted strengthening social cohesion and enhancing national tranquility as a principle objective of democracy. It is the only political system, the Declaration states, that has the capacity to self-correct.

“Egypt is at a critical juncture. It has the choice of asserting a real belief in democratic values by addressing the fears and concerns of all its people through a constitution agreed upon by concensus. IPU urges Egypt to take this unique opportunity to build a united country and not one that is riven by political, religious, gender differences and inequalities.”

(Reuters, via Aswat Masriya) - Efforts to resolve Egypt's rapidly worsening political crisis suffered a blow on Wednesday when the army abruptly postponed "unity" talks that the opposition had minutes earlier said they would attend.

Confirmation that the secular, liberal opposition coalition would join the meeting after boycotting reconciliation talks hosted last week by Islamist President Mohamed Mursi had raised hopes of an end to street protests and deadly violence.

The latest convulsion in Egypt's transition to democracy was brought on by a decree last month from Mursi in which he awarded himself sweeping powers to ram through a new constitution.

The constitution, to be voted on in a national referendum, is a necessary prelude to parliamentary elections due early next year.

Mursi's move caused huge controversy, dividing the Arab world's most populous state and bringing thousands of pro- and anti-government protesters onto the streets in the worst upheaval since the fall of Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago.

The unrest has so far claimed seven lives in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition. But the army has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the presidential palace, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades.

The postponement of the talks came as Egyptians abroad began voting at embassies in the referendum on the new constitution that Mursi fast-tracked through an Islamist-dominated drafting assembly.

The start of the voting process was a setback for the opposition, which had hoped to delay the plebiscite.

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